


See No Evil, Hear No Evil

by Avirra



Category: The A-Team (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-01-27 21:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 9,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1723301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avirra/pseuds/Avirra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of Decker's ambushes has worked - a little too well.  Hannibal and Face are in custody while B.A. and Murdock are MIA, presumed dead.  Is this the end of the A-Team?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

One of Decker's ambushes had finally worked. Well, half-way. Colonel Smith and Lieutenant Peck were in handcuffs and sitting the back of his MP vehicle as he and his men continued their pursuit of Sergeant Baracus and Captain Murdock.

Decker had a satisfied smirk on his face. The pair weren't in the team's usual van, so he felt confident that they wouldn't have their usual bag of tricks to call on. Plus he had radioed ahead for some of his men to take the vehicle out of commission.

The explosion he heard ahead made his driver. Captain Crane, slam on the brakes, throwing both Hannibal and Face around in the back.

They could hear Decker getting on his radio and yelling.

"What the hell was that explosion? You **what**? What part of taking them alive didn't you understand? I told you to take out the vehicle, not the men inside. No - no. Keep everyone clear of the area. I don't want to lose anyone else when the gas tank blows."

Face went pale at those words and gave a desperate look over to Hannibal. Swallowing hard, he leaned over closer.

"Please tell me you think he's just trying to rattle us. If he is, I think it's working."

Hannibal had shifted his position to where he could see ahead easier, then he soundlessly gestured with his head for Face to look. Not really wanting to, Face did and winced as he saw the oily black smoke he'd learned to equate to a vehicle fire. Not a little either. A lot.

It was as if Decker had forgotten that they were in the vehicle with him as he spoke to Captain Crane.

"Explosives. The idiots used explosives in the road. I meant something like a spike strip to take out their tires! Damn. The Captain wasn't a fugitive. He wasn't supposed to be hurt. The General will bust me down to latrine duty for this."

Coldly furious, it occurred to Hannibal that while he'd never liked Decker, he'd never literally hated the man until now. Two men - **his** men - were somewhere underneath that black smoke. Doubtlessly injured - possibly dead. And all this SOB was thinking about was his military career?

A slight nudge from Face brought him back from the red-hot anger filling his brain, making him feel a little guilty. He still had a man to take care of. Hannibal finally looked straight at Face. Despite the stricken look in the Lieutenant's eyes, he knew that lying to him wouldn't be a kindness.

"We both know Decker. He's not that good of an actor."

The sound of another explosion ripped through the air, making them all jump as the vehicle they were in shook from the blast. Hannibal closed his eyes after seeing a ball of flame emerge briefly over the treetops only to be engulfed in a larger black, boiling cloud. There had been at least a chance that his men might have survived the initial explosion. But if they were still in that van when that tank blew? No chance. No chance at all.

Face blinked back the tears that were threatening. B.A. had been his protective burly big brother and Murdock was the best friend he'd ever had. Taking a deep breath, he restarted on picking the locks on his handcuffs. It wasn't taking long for anger to start replacing sorrow. At least for now. These men had just taken away two-thirds of the family that it had taken Face his whole life to build for himself. All he had left now was his father-figure. He'd be damned before he let them take Hannibal away from him too.


	2. Chapter 2

_A few minutes earlier_

The van was traveling fast. It wasn't his baby, but B.A. had yet to encounter the land vehicle he couldn't drive. Of all people, it was the Crazy Man that spotted that lump in the road ahead and shouted the warning. Realizing what it had to be, B.A. wrenched the wheel around with all of his considerable strength. And he almost made it.

As the van had slewed around, a back tire got too close and the explosive charge went off. The noise and loss of control were all B.A. remembered of actual explosion. When he opened his eyes, the buzzing inside of his head was bad, but he ignored that as he looked around him for Murdock to see if the fool had been thrown free of the van as he had been.

After a quick glance didn't reveal the lanky form, B.A. looked back to the van that was now resting on its side and saw exactly what he didn't want to see. Murdock's face was a bloody mess - and he was trapped inside of the burning van. The thought ran through his head that the pilot must be disoriented. He could see him moving, but Murdock didn't seem to be able to find his way out of the vehicle.

Ignoring the fact that the van's tank could go at any second, B.A. ran over and kicked out the already shattered windshield with his steel-toed boot. Reaching in, he grabbed two fistfuls of the pilot's jacket and hauled him out, gathering him up and running with him as fast as his legs could carry him. Even so, when the gas tank blew, the concussive force knocked him off of his feet, sending him sprawling to the ground as Murdock flew just a bit further and hit the ground, sliding partially under a bush before stopping.

As he looked back from his position on the ground, it suddenly occurred to B.A. that while he had definitely felt that second explosion, he hadn't really heard it. That sucker should have been loud, not like a firecracker. Once he paid attention, he found that he wasn't hearing much of anything. It was like his head was underwater - what little he could hear was dim and distorted. Before that thought could overwhelm him, he suddenly remembered Murdock. Man could be hurt and calling out for help and B.A. wouldn't have been likely to have heard him.

Knowing that Decker's men could be closing in, B.A. kept low to the ground. His first sight of his teammate was when he spotted the snarling tiger on the back of Murdock's jacket. He was grateful for that ugly cat - the rest of Murdock was pretty much obscured by the bush and dirt.

Moving over as quickly as he dared, B.A. breathed a somewhat easier when he saw Murdock move a little. Laying a hand gently on the Captain, B.A. spoke - hoping that he was keeping his voice down. He had no way of judging exactly how loudly he was talking though.

"Easy, Crazy Man, it's me. Don't even bother none trying to speak with me. Can hardly hear a thing right now. Musta been that first explosion. Hopefully, just temporary. So - you need to point me to what I need to look at. Anything busted?"

From the way Murdock's shoulders were moving, he was either laughing or crying. Neither one was good so far as B.A. was concerned, so he took the chance and untangled limbs from the bush before rolling Murdock over to face him.

There were a couple of cuts that could have used a stitch or two on Murdock's forehead, so plenty of blood, but that was the way facial wounds were. B.A. thought the way that Murdock was groping at him was a little odd, but then he looked into the staring brown eyes that didn't seem able to focus. He suddenly knew why Murdock hadn't been able to figure out how to free himself. Murdock's vision must be as messed up as his hearing was. What made it worse was that the fool was doing both - laughing and crying while making a vague gesture toward his head. And B.A. knew that Murdock was saying something - he just couldn't make it out.

"Oh man. Big Buddy, we are the pair. You can't hear and I can't see anything more than light and shadows. We're almost the full set of little monkeys. Just need the 'speak no evil' part."

"You may as well quit your jibber-jabbering - I can't hear you. And we've gotta get further away. Decker and his goons'll be crawling all over the area soon."

Picking Murdock up carefully in case there were more injuries, B.A. took one more look back at the billowing smoke and decided that now was their best opportunity to get moving. No way of telling what had happened to the Colonel and Face, but they'd have to worry about that later. Right now? He literally had his hands full.


	3. Chapter 3

Face felt the left cuff unlatch and a sly smile formed as he opened it as quietly as possible - not that Decker was likely to notice with all of the noise. He didn't want to leave the cuff dangling, but he also didn't want to take the time it would have taken to pick the right cuff lock, so he fastened the cuff to his right wrist next to the other one.

As Decker ordered the MP car forward again, Face slid his hand behind Hannibal, who discretely moved to give the conman better access to his cuffs. Being able to see what he was doing sped up the process immensely and he had both of Hannibal's wrists free in short order.

The radio crackled and Decker was back on it.

"Patrol Baker to Colonel Decker. Over."

"Decker here. Report. Over."

"Vehicle is a total loss, sir, but it would appear that one of the men survived. The windshield was broken out and there's blood on the ground. Over."

"Start a sweep. Whichever one of them it is, odds are he won't be able to get far. Over."

"Yes sir, Colonel. Patrol Baker out."

Putting back the handset, Decker looked ahead as the remains of the still burning wrecked van came into view. The sight of it made Face a bit nauseous. To think of either B.A. or Murdock in the middle of that? No. If one of them made it out, they would have made sure the other one made it out if it had been humanly possible. Murdock might talk to invisible dogs and the occasional trash can, but the Captain wouldn't have left B.A. behind even if it had meant not getting out himself. And for all of B.A.'s grousing about Murdock, he was the only one allowed to pick on their eccentric pilot. Anyone else trying it - especially any one not on their team - was asking for a smack-down. And when B.A. smacked someone down, they generally stayed down.

Seeing the small smile on Face let Hannibal know that the two of them were thinking similar thoughts. One of them made it out. Until it was proven otherwise, one out meant both out in Hannibal's mind. But they both were bound to have at least minor injuries and might not be capable of evading Decker's men. That meant that he and the Lieutenant had to find them and find them quickly.

Still studying the wreck, Decker mused out loud.

"If we're in luck, Captain Murdock's the one that made it out alive. If that's the case, when we find him, I'll make sure they seal him away in the deepest, darkest, most remote padded cell we can find and then throw out the key."

Hannibal's face was placid and his voice even when he spoke up from the back.

"You know what, Colonel Decker? I really need to thank you most sincerely for what you've done for me."

That got a puzzled reaction from the man in the front and he turned around in his seat to look back at Hannibal.

"Thank me, Smith? For what?"

"For helping me to remember just why it was that I did this at the Officers Club over in 'Nam."

Hannibal's fist snapping out took Decker completely by surprise and Face took advantage of the momentary chaos to knock out Captain Crane. Each of them disarmed the unconscious men and Face took an additional minute to fish out the keys to the handcuffs before they dumped Decker and Crane out. Hannibal smirked slightly when he noticed Face was handcuffing them to one another, back to back.

"Come on, Lieutenant. We have to find the Captain and the Sergeant ASAP. Even if they're both in good shape, they won't be if we leave them stuck with one another for very long."


	4. Chapter 4

Feeling the body in his arms sag, B.A. slowed down and took a better look at Murdock now that they had a little breathing room. The blood streaking the unconscious man's face made the skin underneath it look even paler.

"Ah man. We gotta get somewhere and get them cuts closed up. Jostling you around ain't likely to be doing you no good neither."

Frowning, B.A. took stock of their surroundings. Dirt road. Definitely rural and remote, but even remote places had homes if you looked long enough. He hoped. Then he spotted something further down the road. It was overgrown, but from the shape, it looked like a fence. Reshifting his hold on Murdock, he headed over to investigate.

"Well, it is a fence. Ain't been kept up, but someone had to have put it here, Crazy Man. May as well follow it and see where it -"

Realizing what he was doing, B.A. groaned.

"Been hanging around this Crazy Fool too long. Now he's got me jibber jabbering to myself. Be talking to dogs that ain't there next."

This would be so much easier if he could leave Murdock, search and then come back for the Fool. He dismissed that thought from his mind a second after it came to him though. Leaving a wounded man behind was just not in B.A.'s makeup, not even Murdock. Especially not Murdock. Without thinking about the fact that he was doing it again, B.A. started talking to him again.

"Guess I hold what you drive against you 'cause I don't like flyin'. Ain't like we ain't had a few wrecks while I was driving, but you still climb into the van with me and trust me to drive us best as I can. Still ain't gonna start liking flyin' though, Fool. Not that we got to worry about that right now. We need us some food, water and rest."

The opening in the fence was more promising than the fence itself. The drive leading away was well-used. If there was someone living up from this drive, maybe they could get some help. B.A. could only hope he was making the right choice. Strong as he was, he was starting to feel the aftereffects of both explosions as well as the crash.

A movement drew his attention. It was a wriggling puppy that appeared to be barking at them. Even better, a wriggling puppy with a collar. That lifted his spirits considerably as he picked up the pace.

Then he saw the little girl running to get the puppy. She was five, maybe six years old, wearing a red polka-dot summery top with bright red shorts and equally red sneakers on her feet. When she saw him, her eyes got wide - eyes the same color as Murdock's, but her skin tone was like his and her hair was neatly done up in a pair of puffs, each tied at their base by red ribbons.

B.A. tried to smile reassuringly, but he knew that they both looked bad. The girl stared for another minute, then turned and ran. He could tell she was yelling something, but what?

Apparently, the noises from the puppy and the girl had stirred Murdock. He tapped B.A.'s arm to get his attention, then gestured to be put down. Not that he minded being carried - much - but feeling solid ground under him again would be nice. B.A. made a grumbling noise, but sat his teammate gently onto the ground as requested. About three seconds later, Murdock had a lap full of overexcited puppy.

Laughing as he half-heartedly fought of the licking, Murdock still heard approaching movement and waved an arm to get B.A.'s attention. He could only hope B.A. noticed that as he pointed to where he was hearing the sound coming from.

Just as B.A. followed the gesture, the girl reappeared, tugging on the arm of a lovely woman that had to be her mother. The woman's eyes went wide and she quickly grabbed up her daughter as B.A. tried to reassure her.

"Ma'am, please. I know we look bad, but we were in an accident. We could sure use some help - please?"

Still being thoroughly washed by a puppy tongue, Murdock spoke up.

"Uhm - you might want to direct your answers down here, ma'am. My buddy can't hear too well right now and I can see just about as well as he can hear. I'm Murdock - who's this little guy that's laid claim to my lap?"

Before the mother could process everything, the little girl piped up.

"That's not a little guy - she's a girl and I named her Daisy."

"Oops - my apologies, Daisy. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

The girl broke out into giggles as Murdock attempt to find a paw to shake. B.A. couldn't really follow what was going on, but he noticed that the woman relaxed her hold on the little girl and took that as a good sign.

"Oh, where are my manners? Daisy? I would like to introduce to my brother, B.A. Baracus. I'm pretty sure at least one of us was adopted, but Mom wouldn't tell us which."

Then the woman laughed as well, letting her daughter back out of her arms. Despite their somewhat frightening appearances, the men were obviously injured and it was hard to imagine the man still trying to 'shake hands' with the puppy would hurt anyone.

"I'm Annie and this is my daughter, Dawn. Come with us. We can at least help get you cleaned up."

Dawn rescued Murdock from the puppy, then timidly reached out and took hold of the sleeve of Murdock's jacket. He smiled at where he could feel the child was.

"Thank you. I hope I don't look as bad as I feel right now."

"You look ucky."

"Dawn!"

"Quite alright, ma'am. Well, Dawn, I feel pretty ucky too. Daisy there needs a little more nursing training, I think."

The girl broke out into giggles again, turning into a little nurse herself as she started talking about finding him a band aid.

B.A. was still wearing a puzzled expression as Murdock carefully got to his feet at the little girl's urgings. Annie looked back at him, recalling then that this Murdock had said the large man couldn't hear. She extended one hand to him while making a 'come along' gesture with her other hand. Oddly enough for such a muscular and rough looking character, he seemed almost shy about taking her hand.

The four of them made their way slowly around the curve in the long drive and found themselves in front of a small house - a bit rundown and in need of some repairs perhaps, but clean and neat. Murdock grimaced when he heard B.A. ask the woman if she had a good sewing needle and some strong thread.

"Oh man... that must mean I need stitches."

Hearing the woman gasp, Murdock just held up a hand.

"Oh, he can do it, Miss Annie. He knows his field first-aid. Can't say that I'm looking forward to it though."

She took a better look at the dusty jacket the man was wearing and made out the words - Da Nang 1970. Her breath caught enough to catch Murdock's attention and he turned his head toward where he thought she was.

"Are you alright, Miss Annie?"

"Yes. Were - were both of you in Vietnam?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

Murdock hadn't meant for his answer to come across as a question, but he was curious about the reason for the question. He got his answer from the small voice at his side.

"My Uncle Jimmy is there. I've never met him, but Momma tells me all about him."

The _'is there'_ rather than _'was there'_ told Murdock all that he needed to know.

"I'm sorry."

B.A. shot Murdock a scowl when he saw the pained look on the woman's face. Then he remembered that the Crazy Man couldn't see him scowling and sighed. Of all things, he was missing hearing that fool's voice.


	5. Chapter 5

Face was sliding into the driver's seat just as the radio crackled to life again.

"Patrol Baker to Colonel Decker. Over."

As Hannibal was getting into the passenger seat, Face suddenly got a mischievous grin, reached for the handset and keyed it. He closed his eyes, remembering as best he could how Decker had spoken over it earlier and trying to mock the man's voice. The slight static on the line should help cover the substitution.

"Decker here. Report. Over."

"We've covered about a mile and a half. We can see where someone has been through here, but no signs of either man yet, Colonel. Orders, sir? Over."

"We've just gotten a report of someone that could possibly be Captain Murdock at a location five miles north of the wreckage. Load up your men immediately and check it out. Look for a small gas station. Over."

"Yes sir, Colonel. Baker out."

Hannibal reached over and gave the conman a pat on his shoulder as he hung the handset back up.

"Quick thinking, Face. Now that you've bought us a little breathing room, let's wait for the patrol to clear the area, then go find our guys. Very thoughtful of Decker to leave his map for us. Now - where might they have gone?"

Leaning over to study the map that Hannibal was spreading out, Face tapped the red circle.

"That looks to be about where we are right now. Decker must have been marking the wreck site. Looks like roads and buildings are pretty sparse around this area."

"So I see, kid. Patrols appeared to have approached the wreck from this direction."

Glancing up, Hannibal made note of the direction the men were returning from.

"We have to start somewhere, so let's assume they were headed in the right direction before you pulled them."

"There's a road in that direction about two miles from here, Colonel. An unpaved one by the color."

Face traced his finger along the map to see where they could go to get access.

"We'll need to go back around thirteen miles, but there's an intersection we can take to get to it."

Hannibal was continuing to watch the patrollers load into their jeeps. None of them spared more than a glance their direction. Fortunately, Decker and Crane were still too out of it to be yelling for assistance.

Once the jeeps were on their way, he nodded to Face.

"Let's not waste any more time, Face."

"Right."

Cranking the car, Face turned the vehicle around and headed off. The patrol would discover the ruse soon enough and come back to find Decker. They needed to find B.A. and Murdock before that happened.


	6. Chapter 6

Annie escorted them inside and pointed B.A. to the bathroom so that he could wash up a little while she moved over to get her sewing box.

"Dawn, help Mister Murdock to the kitchen table."

"Just Murdock is fine, Miss Annie."

She laughed again then and Murdock felt happy that he apparently hadn't upset her too badly.

"I'll drop the mister if you drop the miss."

She gave a slight shudder as she threaded the needle for B.A. then watched as he dipped it, thread and all into the alcohol he'd found and brought back out of the bathroom with him.

"Murdock? I don't have a thing in this house for pain but aspirin."

"Oh, don't fret it, Annie. The Big Guy won't make it take longer than it has to."

But then, Murdock bit his lip and considered.

"Dawn? Would either you or Daisy mind finding me a little bit of paper to write on - and something to write with. Oh - and I also believe that I was promised a band aid."

"Oh yes - and you get a lollypop too. I had to get stitches once and the nurse told me that anyone that was brave when they got stitches always gets a lollypop."

After he heard the child's feet pattering away, he heard Annie give a sigh of relief.

"Thank you - I wasn't sure how to get her out of the room. No offense, I just don't want her seeing it."

Murdock braced himself as he felt B.A. getting close to him.

"None taken, lovely lady. You might want to avoid watching yourself, but would you mind talking to me? Keep my mind off of this?"

"Quit movin' your head and hold still, Fool. I need to clean this up a little first."

"Does he always call you a fool?"

"Well, not always, but enough, I guess. Mom swats him for it though, so maybe he'll find another nickname for me."

"Umm - you two really are brothers?"

"I know - hard to imagine a two such good looking guys in one family, isn't it? But we are. I have to confess though that I do know that I was the adopted one. B.A.'s mother? She's the finest woman to set foot on this planet. Followed closely by yourself, I'm sure."

Murdock hissed at the needle stab, doing his best not to yell out. He didn't want to scare Dawn.

"You're certainly a flatterer. First calling me lovely when you can't even see me, then calling me a fine woman."

"Looks have nothing to do with making a woman lovely. Or a man. Why if old B.A. here was as good looking outside as he was inside, you would be dazzled."

Annie's eyes moved to the big man with the extreme amount of jewelry. She could have imagined him doing any number of things, but not the almost delicate way he was handling that needle and tending to Murdock.

"I think I can see that. I'll go get a cloth and some hot water so we can clean your face off. Then I'll make us all something to eat."

B.A. had finished the stitches and had accepted the warm washcloth to start cleaning Murdock off before Dawn returned with a pair of band aids, some paper and a crayon.

"Here you go - oh, Momma said you have to wait until after we eat before you can have a lollypop. Do you like grape? We have more of those 'cause I like the orange ones better. But you can have one of my orange ones if you like those best too."

"You are very generous, but I happen to love grape. Thank you."

Trying to be careful, Murdock began to write using the crayon. He couldn't see it, but B.A. was amused to note that the girl had given the Captain a red crayon - obviously her favorite color. Moving behind the chair and looking over Murdock's shoulder, he watched as Murdock tried to fill him in using as few words as possible. Writing without being able to see what he was doing was trickier than the Captain had expected.

_Mother = Annie. Girl = Dawn. Puppy = Daisy._

"You don't need be filling me in on the dog's name, Fool. Go on."

_Brother = Jimmy = Nam._

After a short pause, Murdock conveyed the rest of that message by drawing a small cross. B.A. remembered the woman leaning forward to look at Murdock's jacket and understood then what had upset her. It wasn't Murdock saying some fool thing after all. He knew Murdock had never seen the glare, but he gave him a light pat of apology anyway before the smell of food got both of their attention.

Moving over to set out bowls, Annie waved B.A. over to a seat.

"Just tomato soup and sandwiches, but plenty of both. Dig in."

To everyone's amusement, Dawn took charge of Murdock. The little girl drug her chair right next to his and then began giving him instructions on where to find his spoon and other helpful directions. B.A. couldn't hear them, of course, but the animated way Dawn had of moving was sweet.

B.A.'s eyes moved from the girl to her mother and found his eyes meeting hers. He was just as glad at that moment that Murdock couldn't see them. The blush that both of them found forming would have ended up as fodder for teasing otherwise and then he'd have felt guilty for having to smack a wounded man.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hannibal?"

"Yeh, Face?"

"It's going to be getting dark soon."

"Tell me something I don't already know, Face."

The atmosphere was heavy in the car. The anxiety of the two men was growing by leaps and bounds with every minute that passed without a sign of their comrades. Then Face suddenly hit the brakes.

"Face? Are you alright?"

"I just remembered - we're in Decker's car."

Hannibal just gave Face a puzzled look that slid to looking irritated.

"I was there when we stole it, so yes, I was aware of that, Lieutenant."

Turning in his seat slightly, the haggard conman looked directly at Hannibal.

"If it was the two of us on the run and wounded? What would we be doing if we saw this car?"

It took only two beats before Hannibal's expression changed totally. Then the Colonel groaned and answered his second-in-command.

"We'd be hiding from it. And we certainly wouldn't get close enough to see who was in the driver's seat. You're right, we'll never find them in this because they won't let themselves be found while they can move at all. We need to double back to the right area and ditch this car."

"Well, hide it at least, sir. If the guys aren't able to walk far, we'll need a way to get us all back to the van."

"Good thinking, Face - again. Sorry for snapping, son."

"I'm worried too, Colonel."

They parked and reconsulted the map, deciding to go back down the dirt road to the point straight across from the wreck. They were almost to that point when Hannibal noticed the overgrown fence in the fading light.

"Let's see if we can get the car behind that. All that growth will help hide it and we'll add a few branches to finish the job."

"And then what, Hannibal?"

"Then we try to get some rest, Face. I don't like that anymore than you do, but if they did see this car and are hiding from it, what chance do we have of finding them in the dark? If we call out for them, we'd be as likely for Decker and his goon squad to hear us. And if they just hear our approach, but not our voices, they'll assume that we're Decker's bunch and evade us. We need for them to be able to see us as much as we need to be able to see them."

Face found an opening in the fence, carefully easing off the drive and going parallel as close to the fence as possible. It was fully dark out by the time they had the car camouflaged to their satisfaction. Hannibal insisted that Face take the back seat and stretch out as well as he could.

"Get some rest if you can. Come first light, we'll start off doing what you suggested."

"What I suggested? Umm - what did I suggest, sir?"

"We're going to relook over this area, putting ourselves in their shoes. What choices would we have made on our own and wounded? I've been thinking about what you said earlier. We've been a unit now for a lot of years, Face - both in 'Nam and here. There's a good chance our choices will line up, but as I said already, they're going to have to be able to see us to trust us."

Laying down on the backseat, Face nodded and allowed himself to feel more hopeful about it. He had to feel that way. Right now, he just couldn't even think seriously about the possibility that either of their teammates might already be lost to them.


	8. Chapter 8

Once the meal was finished, B.A. immediately took to clearing the table and went to wash up, not able to hear Annie's protests and pretending not to notice her signals.

"You may as well give that up, Annie. The Big Guy doesn't change his mind much after he makes it up."

Murdock just grinned up in the woman's general direction from the spot on the floor that Dawn had led him to, then went back to an animated discussion with her. Animated in all senses of the word as they were making comparisons between the merits of Scooby-Doo versus Hong Kong Phooey.

Smiling at the two of them, Annie went to her desk and found a pad and pen before going back to where B.A. was in the kitchen. To her surprise, she found him under the sink.

He felt her approach and came back out, wrench in hand. She'd almost forgotten that she'd left Jimmy's old toolbox in the pantry.

"You had a bit of a leak. Figured I'd take a minute to fix it."

Opening the pad, she jotted a few words before passing it to B.A.

_Thank you - he tells me your mother adopted him? How old was he?_

Actually Annie wondered how old he was even now. He acted a lot more like one of Dawn's friends most of the time.

B.A. glanced over to where Murdock was making kung-fu motions while Dawn was laughing herself silly as he handed back the pad.

"Yeh - my momma loves that Fool. Calls him Baby. Was just this year she adopted him, but she'd been threatening it for awhile. Makes them both happy, so don't guess there's no harm. It's them big puppy dog eyes of his. You know, your little girl has those too. Her eyes and his are almost exactly the same."

At that comment, Annie turned back to look at him. Had that been part of the reason that she saw him as being so innocent? Then a smile came back as she jotted again.

_He also said that your mother was the finest woman to set foot on the planet._

B.A. gave a laugh at that.

"He may be a Crazy Fool, but he's got that right."

B.A. was putting up the dishes, then automatically went for a screwdriver to tighten a loose hinge. She held up the pad again.

_Why do you keep calling him Fool?_

B.A. hesitated a moment before speaking again.

"Happened over in Vietnam. Murdock told me about your brother. I won't say anything more if it brings up bad memories."

_It's alright._

"I guess that the best way to describe it is that he saw one too many of our boys die. He was a chopper pilot over there. The best. Sort of retreated into himself, I suppose."

B.A. saw the slight panicked look and reached out to touch Annie's shoulder.

"You don't need to worry none about him. He may act more like an overgrown kid than an adult, but he's still a good man. He risked his life to help save my momma. He's like that. He'll put himself between other folks and danger if he can. Rather be hurt himself than see other folks hurt."

She gave another glance over. What B.A. said matched her instincts about the lanky man, so she just nodded and looked back up at the big man, who was looking for other things to fix.

_You don't have to do that._

"Maybe I don't. But I want to. I'm good with my hands if you can show me anything else that might need fixing, I'll see what I can do."

Remembering what Murdock had said about changing B.A.'s mind once it was made up, Annie just laughed again and began to show him a couple of the more annoying problems that the house had developed over the years. B.A. found himself wondering what her laugh sounded like. She sure looked pretty enough when she was laughing that it ought to be a good sound.

Over with Dawn, Murdock was just smiling to himself. He had an idea what Annie was doing to get her questions across since he was only hearing B.A.'s answers. She certainly was a lovely lady with a lovely daughter and he couldn't help but wonder what it might be like to be an uncle to the girl currently admiring the tiger on his jacket.

_"What is it about family that finally having some makes you want to have more? I guess family is like... like potato chips."_

Satisfied with that, Murdock went back to trying to help Dawn figure out who would win in a fight between Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam.


	9. Chapter 9

Hannibal leaned back the passenger seat to get his back into a little more comfortable position after Face's breathing told him the lieutenant had finally dozed off. He'd meant to stay on watch himself, but between the stresses of the day and the soft snore behind him, he didn't even realize that he had nodded off himself until a noise woke him.

Silently cursing himself, a quick glance at his watch showed him the shocking fact that it was now four hour later than when he'd last looked at it. Seeing the flashlights playing along the dirt road, he was glad they had taken the extra time to hide the car better.

Reaching back, he laid a hand on Face's mouth before waking him. The conman understood the signal to stay quiet and gave his head a shake to clear it. Then, clear as day, they both heard it. Decker's voice.

"Are you sure they came this way, Captain?"

"Yes sir, Colonel. We found a piece of one of Baracus' chains on the road."

"Damn. He would have to have been the one to survive that explosion. Do we have any information on who lives here?"

"Registered to a Mrs. Annie Wilkins, sir. Widow - one child."

"I see. That makes things a bit more complicated. He could have tricked her into providing assistance, but I won't have the civilians injured in taking Baracus or have this devolve into a hostage situation. Captain!"

"Yes sir!"

"Any other road off of this property?'

"No, sir."

"Good. Build the barricade here and have the men set up camp along the road. We'll surround it and take the house just before dawn when he'll be the most likely to be asleep."

"Yes, Colonel Decker."

Exchanging glances, Hannibal pointed toward the road and made a hammering gesture before pointing to the car doors furthest from the road. Face nodded that he understood - they would wait until the men setting up camp were making enough noise, then ease out of the car themselves. Where ever this house was down that drive, they needed to be there well before Decker and his squad got there. Even if that wasn't where B.A. was, the people that lived there certainly didn't deserve to be frightened half to death by an invasion of MPs.

Easing the doors open once the noise level was enough to cover them, Face was pleased to be moving again. Knowing Decker's track record, he was trying not to get his hopes up too high. Still, he felt a smile forming when they had worked their way around far enough to get a look at the small home. Despite himself, he was crossing his fingers.

A hand on his shoulder from Hannibal stopped him and he looked back to see a real smile forming on the Colonel's face as he pointed. Following the gesture, Face felt himself release a breath that he hadn't known he had been holding. There was a small puppy lying on one of the steps leading up to the house. And it was sleeping while still holding on to a very familiar looking ballcap.


	10. Chapter 10

The sound of running water told Murdock that someone was taking a shower. That followed by Annie telling Dawn it was time to start getting ready for bed? That told him the person in the shower was B.A., so he took a moment to call to Annie.

"Umm, could I ask where you were thinking about us sleeping?"

"Well, I have a guest bed, but it's only a twin size. Other than that, there's just the couch. Sorry."

"Oh, please don't be. It's just - could you help me get settled on the couch quick? The Big Guy might try and argue about arrangements, but you and I both know he needs the room more than I do. If he thinks I'm already asleep, he won't fight it."

It only took her a minute to grab him a pillow and a blanket, which was all he said he needed. As she helped him to get settled, he grumbled some about his sight, but not in the way she would have expected. He was fussing about it being an inconvenience to her - and even apologizing to her for it. She shushed him and tucked him in like she was about to go do for her daughter as well.

"You know, I can see why she adopted you."

His grin at that made her feel like she'd given him the highest compliment a man could get. Well, maybe she had. Turning off the light, she made her way to her daughter's room and tucked her in as well.

Coming back into the hall, she almost collided with B.A. Currently without his jewelry and only wearing his pants, he seemed as flustered by their near miss as she did.

"I'm sorry I should have been watching where I was going."

"No - I should..."

B.A. suddenly stopped talking, then looked back at her.

"Say something."

She just stared for a minute.

"I... don't know what to say."

His smile lit up the hallway then.

"I heard that. You still sound like you're speaking from down the hall but I heard that."

His voice lowered a bit then.

"Your voice sounds just like I imagined it would."

Feeling the blush rising again, Annie smiled, feeling inexplicably embarrassed. She didn't know what to say.

B.A. put two fingers beneath her chin and tilted her head slightly to look in her eyes. Then, as if he had read something in them, he leaned down and kissed her. To her own surprise, Annie found herself returning it.

When they separated for a moment, she looked deeply into his eyes, then smiled.

"Your brother was right. He said the man you were on the inside was dazzling. I can see that."

B.A. didn't bother responding to that except to give a soundless laugh and then followed it up with another kiss,

Snuggled down on the couch, Murdock hugged his pillow a little tighter as he smiled at what he was overhearing. Part of it was happiness because B.A. had his hearing back again. The rest was just plain happiness in general. Only thing left to make things perfect in Murdock-World would be when he and the Big Guy managed to bust Hannibal and Face out from where ever Decker might have them.

Oh - and his eyes deciding to work again would be nice too.


	11. Chapter 11

The pain in Murdock's head wouldn't let him do much more than catnap for brief periods. His favorite way to lay down brought the stitches in contact with either the couch or the pillow and startled him back awake every time he started to go into a deeper sleep.

Daisy's bark outside got his attention, but didn't wake him fully up. What did wake him up was the much softer sound of someone trying to shush the puppy. Blood running cold, Murdock desperately wished he could see better so that he could find a weapon he could use. His vision was slowly getting better, but being able to make out colors and vague shapes was still a long way from seeing clearly.

One thing he did know - he wasn't going to let Decker take him without a fight. He might not have been facing a firing squad like the others but he wasn't going back to the VA. The last time he had 'borrowed' his file, he'd seen a note recommending that he might be a good 'volunteer' for a new procedure. No thanks. He'd been 'volunteered' before.

There wasn't time to warn B.A., but surely the Big Guy would wake up when the fight started. He was just glad everyone else was in a different part of the house than he was. Then a different cold shiver ran through him as a small hand touched his arm. He tried not to panic as he whispered to her. He knew that she could likely hear the low voices outside. Too faint to tell much about them except that they were men.

"Dawn sweetie - you need to go back to your room. No - go to your Mom's room. Don't be scared, just some men outside, but I'll take care of them, okay?"

The little girl looked from Murdock to the door and then ran to the kitchen. Murdock started to protest as she came back to him until he felt that she was pressing something near his hand. The monkey wrench B.A. had been using on the sink earlier.

Murdock found her forehead and gave it a kiss.

"Thank you, sweetie - now you listen to your Uncle HM and hightail it to your Mom's room, okay?"

Taking a good grip on the wrench, Murdock untangled himself from his blanket and felt his way over to the door. He heard scratching noises that he recognized as someone trying to pick the lock. Controlling his breathing to keep himself calm, he waited until the sound of the door opening gave him his direction.

He swung the heavy wrench at whoever it was coming in, but didn't connect as he'd hoped to. Instead he found his wrist being captured, but just before he started fighting harder, he heard a welcome sound.

"Murdock! Calm down."

"Colonel?"

That question when Murdock was literally inches from his face made Hannibal pause. There wasn't a lot of light in here, granted, but at this range, surely he didn't have to question who he was. He didn't have a lot of time to wonder though as the lights suddenly snapped on and made him blink.

Face had heard movement and shielded his eyes, so he recovered first.

"B.A.! Oh man - we've been worried about you guys."

"Faceman - Colonel! Good to see you managed to get away without me and the Fool having to bust you out 'cause we've been having some problems."

"Well, we have more problems now, Sergeant."

Hannibal still hadn't released Murdock's wrist and was now examining the stitches and bruising on the captain. As well as noticing that odd stare in his eyes. Murdock could guess the reason for Hannibal's quiet and filled in the blanks.

"My eyes no work so good right now, Colonel. But they're getting better. And so's B.A.'s hearing."

While Hannibal was processing that information, Face started laughing.

"You couldn't hear and you couldn't see?"

Annie and Dawn were staying back, but they were both peering around B.A. to see who these two men were now that they were apparently not a threat.

B.A. growled at Face.

"Glad you think this is all so funny. Can't say as I see much humor in it."

"Oh - sorry, B.A. Really. It's just when I think about you guys still being able to dodge Decker in that condition - well, not so funny anymore, I guess. He's here."

"What?"

That last question was in perfect unison from Murdock and B.A. Then Murdock cleared his throat.

"Uhmmm, begging your pardon, Colonel Smith sir? But could you let my wrist go now? I'm losing feeling in my fingers."

"Oh - sorry, Captain. You both look like you got pretty banged up."

"Maybe a little, sir - but Decker? Decker's here?"

At Murdock's questions, Annie slipped up closer to B.A. and slipped a hand onto his arm.

"That's the man you were telling me about a little while ago, isn't it?"

"Yeh - it is. Colonel, we can't let them be messing with this family."

"We won't, Sergeant, we won't. We have from now until just before dawn to make our plans. I think we need to come up with a few wild geese for the good Colonel to chase."


	12. Chapter 12

Nothing else happened in the way of sleep that night as the A-Team, finally united again, pooled their talents. Annie kept sandwiches ready and a pot of coffee going. She also gave them the key to the small workshop that used to be her brother's with permission to use anything they wanted. B.A.'s eyes had practically glittered at the sight of what he had to work with. He really wished he'd met Jimmy then - he seemed like a man after his own heart.

Murdock was still limited with what he was able to do, but he and Dawn were practically giggling in one corner as they worked on the project the Colonel had given them. Face and Hannibal made multiple quiet trips down to the road and back, making little changes to the jeeps parked there as well as rigging Decker's car with the gear that B.A. was putting together for them as quickly as he could. This plan was, like all of Hannibal's plans, a bit out there. It was also going to be all or nothing. Face gave a small smile that he kept hidden when he saw Annie give B.A a kiss for luck.

It was an hour before dawn and Decker's squad was getting prepared to get in formation to move toward the house when a shout startled them all.

"Alright, men! Let's light up this place."

"Smith!"

The name had barely gotten out of Decker's mouth when a pair of explosions went off. One took put a section of fencing and another took out one of the squad jeeps. Men dove for cover in the confusion as a loud rumbling started.

It was hard to see exactly what the machine was in the little light that was present, but it looked like some cobbled combination of farm tractor and bulldozer. It broke through the area when the explosives had mangled the fencing and began to head down the road.

Pursuit quickly proved not to be an option as small charges went off on the remaining vehicles, exploding the tire. Decker's screaming was near incoherant by this point. Captain Crane had out his field glasses, trying to focus on the moving vehicle in the dim light.

"I can't make out faces, Colonel, but there are four men with that vehicle."

"Fire on it! Don't let them get away!"

Before Captain Crane could speak up to remind him about Murdock, several automatic weapons opened fire and ripped into the Frankensteinish contraption. The explosion that ripped through the early morning quiet shocked them all as it erupted into a fireball.

Facing the fire and moving up a little closer to it, Decker's face was a look of near contentment - for about 30 seconds. Then he wheeled around and screamed at Crane.

"Dammit, Crane! Why didn't you remind me that we needed to extract Captain Murdock first?"


	13. Chapter 13

By the time the sun had finished rising, there wasn't much that could be salvaged from the smoldering wreckage. Some bloody scraps of clothing, some charred bone fragments, a ruined shoe, some partially melted bits of jewelry. Nothing that you could piece together again to form a body, let alone four bodies. Most of the remains had been destroyed in the massive explosion or flung so far away as to be lost forever.

They found where Decker's car had been hidden - fortunately it was still in working order. They interviewed the woman that lived in the house who had told them that someone had broken into her late brother's workshop. She had just locked her doors and kept her child with her until the unknown men had gone away. The descriptions she'd given were vague since she hadn't gotten near them, but could have been the A-Team. They took their reports, loaded was what left of the machine to take it back to their base and left.

Annie clicked on the radio sitting on her table, but it wasn't music coming from the speakers. It was Decker's voice reporting back to his headquarters that the A-Team had died resisting arrest. No survivors.

Looking up after hearing that, she saw the smile form on B.A. as he stepped back into the house, followed closely by the other three. Face was helping Murdock back inside, though he quickly found himself replaced by an anxious Dawn. Murdock looked down at her smiled.

"You did great work, little lady. Those big old rag dolls we made tricked them."

B.A. chuckled.

"Yeah - four shapes and a remote control? That worked good. Not that it would have fooled them if they could've gotten a good look, but dark as it was followed by blowing it up? Sounds like we got 'em fooled for the moment at least"

Hannibal cleared his throat slightly.

"I'd like to thank you for everything you did for my men here. If you don't mind, we'll hang around for a few days. The Sergeant tells me there are some repairs that need tending."

"You don't need -"

Murdock laughed up from where he was sitting to allow Dawn to change out his band aids.

"Annie? Remember what I told you about B.A. when he makes up his mind? Well, the Colonel here makes him look downright flexible."

Face chimed in.

"Besides, we should have a few days off from being chased. At least until they manage to tell Decker those were soup bones fragments he found in the wreckage after the explosion."

Giving her hand a squeeze, B.A. smiled back down at her. She was a woman with a lot of pride and he admired that.

"We won't stay if you don't want us to - but we don't get a lot of time to just be somewhere. You'd be doing us more of a favor than we'd be doing you."

That was when she noticed both Murdock and Dawn - they were looking at her with the same exact pleading expression in their eyes and she dissolved into laughter.

"Oh! You were so right. Those same exact puppy dog eyes. How can I say no?"

As Dawn turned to give Murdock a hug, B.A. drew Annie closer into a hug, already talking to her about needing to meet his mother in Chicago. Face had a half-smile as Hannibal laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Guess this is one time that you don't get the girl, Lieutenant."

"You know what, Colonel? I'm alright with that. Let's just not make a habit out of it."


End file.
